Post by Jojo on Jun 19, 2003 8:37:15 GMT 8
peeps what do u think 'bout this article. agree ba o disagree
By Nestor U. Torre
Inquirer News Service
WE were finally able to catch up with "Buttercup," ABS-CBN's new weekly continuing drama series, last Saturday. We found the show's second installment appealing and attention-calling because it was about young adults trying to find themselves and get their priorities straight in today's complex and confounding world.
Its star value also helped. After all, when you get a show with young comers like Claudine Barretto, Assunta de Rossi, Diether Ocampo, Piolo Pascual and Onemig Bondoc in its stellar cast, you pay attention.
After a diverting while, however, it became clear that the show's strength didn't lie in its performances. The young stars gave their roles everything they had in terms of energy and involvement, but it wasn't enough. Their performances were breezy and colorful, but not all that insightful.
We tried to figure out why this was so, and we came to the conclusion that the main problem was the show's limited and thus limiting ambition.
While it purported to dig deep into the lives of the members of a close-knit group of friends, it did so from a relatively shallow melodramatic point of view, rather than from a truly dynamic and insightfully dramatic one.
Thus, big problems were tackled-Claudine discovers that she could have been adopted, Onemig's character has to admit to being gay, Piolo loves Claudine but she is attracted to Diether who sort of leads her on-but the emotional lessons learned were tentative instead of truly illuminating.
It's clear that the script's limitations have a lot to do with this lack of genuine insights. We must point out, however, that other elements of the teleplay are deft, entertaining and with-it.
The same goes for the direction, which keeps the proceedings dynamic and visually eventful, as befits the series' young-adult milieu. After a while, however, the diverting storytelling is no longer enough, since the viewer is looking for a clearer, more perceptive take on the major issues the series chooses to tackle.
Inconsistencies and improbabilities also obtrude. For instance, Assunta is a club dancer, but her closest friends don't know this and think that she's a front-desk clerk at a hotel. Clearly, it would be easy for her friends to check with the hotel and discover that she doesn't work there.
Another improbability is the barkada's not knowing that Onemig's character is gay. It's as clear as day, especially his overt attraction to Carlos Agassi's character. Besides, his male bedmates can't be expected to piously keep his secret.
Given these scripting and directorial limitations, we must still point out that the stellar cast's work leaves a lot to be desired. The actors play types more than people, and the effect is dramatically constricting.
Agassi is too fixated on his physique to bother with genuine characterization. Pascual is unrelievedly morose and taciturn. Ciara Sotto is too consistently hyper. And the show's other young stars also need to go beyond appearances and poses, to really get to the bottom of what makes their characters tick.
By Nestor U. Torre
Inquirer News Service
WE were finally able to catch up with "Buttercup," ABS-CBN's new weekly continuing drama series, last Saturday. We found the show's second installment appealing and attention-calling because it was about young adults trying to find themselves and get their priorities straight in today's complex and confounding world.
Its star value also helped. After all, when you get a show with young comers like Claudine Barretto, Assunta de Rossi, Diether Ocampo, Piolo Pascual and Onemig Bondoc in its stellar cast, you pay attention.
After a diverting while, however, it became clear that the show's strength didn't lie in its performances. The young stars gave their roles everything they had in terms of energy and involvement, but it wasn't enough. Their performances were breezy and colorful, but not all that insightful.
We tried to figure out why this was so, and we came to the conclusion that the main problem was the show's limited and thus limiting ambition.
While it purported to dig deep into the lives of the members of a close-knit group of friends, it did so from a relatively shallow melodramatic point of view, rather than from a truly dynamic and insightfully dramatic one.
Thus, big problems were tackled-Claudine discovers that she could have been adopted, Onemig's character has to admit to being gay, Piolo loves Claudine but she is attracted to Diether who sort of leads her on-but the emotional lessons learned were tentative instead of truly illuminating.
It's clear that the script's limitations have a lot to do with this lack of genuine insights. We must point out, however, that other elements of the teleplay are deft, entertaining and with-it.
The same goes for the direction, which keeps the proceedings dynamic and visually eventful, as befits the series' young-adult milieu. After a while, however, the diverting storytelling is no longer enough, since the viewer is looking for a clearer, more perceptive take on the major issues the series chooses to tackle.
Inconsistencies and improbabilities also obtrude. For instance, Assunta is a club dancer, but her closest friends don't know this and think that she's a front-desk clerk at a hotel. Clearly, it would be easy for her friends to check with the hotel and discover that she doesn't work there.
Another improbability is the barkada's not knowing that Onemig's character is gay. It's as clear as day, especially his overt attraction to Carlos Agassi's character. Besides, his male bedmates can't be expected to piously keep his secret.
Given these scripting and directorial limitations, we must still point out that the stellar cast's work leaves a lot to be desired. The actors play types more than people, and the effect is dramatically constricting.
Agassi is too fixated on his physique to bother with genuine characterization. Pascual is unrelievedly morose and taciturn. Ciara Sotto is too consistently hyper. And the show's other young stars also need to go beyond appearances and poses, to really get to the bottom of what makes their characters tick.
